Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,672,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,269,700 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 0.7% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned 0.10% of Bank of America worth $304,425,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $326,566,441.74. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 874,692,264 shares in the company, valued at $35,564,987,454.24. This trade represents a 0.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 77,946,615 shares of company stock valued at $3,152,226,690 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $47.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $29.32 and a 1-year high of $47.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $366.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.57 and its 200 day moving average is $40.82.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.